New Year, Same Me !!

Firstly, I am not one of those people who claim to be a blogger mainly because I haven't posted in what 100 years  2 years ? I am however one of those people who sometimes decides that they want to sit down and reflect on what has been happening and attempt to write about it.
Secondly, I am under no illusion that anyone reads my posts and that's okay but if your here... Hey!!

So here we are! January 2017. The last time I attempted to write a post was December 2015 and since then so little yet so much as changed. 
2016 was a year that looking back now went so quickly yet at the time seemed to last forever and I'm still trying to decided if that's a good thing or not(?)

2016 was a year that challenged me, inspired me, broke me and equipped me all at the same time. I finished the first year of my Youth and Childrens Internship and started my second (yeah, that was a surprise to me too lol). But the biggest challenge I had to face was the loss of  my beautiful Granny Margaret the woman who was a huge impact on not only my personal relationships but my relationship with Jesus, the person that always prayed for me regardless of any circumstances. She was also the woman who always told me to follow my dreams and always look for the good in people- something that I'm not too good at (but I'm working on it).

One thing that I kept realising last year is that a relationship with Jesus- being committed to God requires 100 percent, I don't know about you but the only time I've ever achieved 100 percent was in P4 on a weekly spelling test. But with Jesus there's no test, there's no teacher shouting information down your neck in order to do well but there is however an expectation to remain focused on Him and not on the other people around you and that's hard... but the most incredible thing is that God doesn't ask you to do that alone !
He places good people in our lives in the shape of mentors and friends. I have the most incredible friends, friends that have been with me in my darkest days and my happiest days. Friendships that seem to have lasted a life time and friendships that have only formed in the past year or two BUT all with the same thing in common- the love for God.
like all friendship groups none of us are perfect which is good as God doesn't expect us to be perfect but he does expect us to be honest about our mistakes and admit when you need help.
God can do a lot with an Honest heart!
There are something's in life that we simply cant do by ourselves, things that are too big for us or we're too afraid to tackle it on our own and that's a prime opportunity to use the friendship that we have!
Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 says "Two people are better off than one , for they can help each other succeed , if one person falls the other can reach out and help, but someone who falls alone is in real trouble" !

If there's one thing I'm not good at when it comes to my friends is to simply ask them how they are doing? asking them if there's anything that I can be praying for?. its easy yes when something comes up and I'm prompted to do so but should that really be the case ?
Why can I not just text them one random day to see how they're doing... in the past it would've been because I was afraid of the 'Good, How about you?' reply but this year I'm making it a Resolution Goal to do exactly that!
The Christmas season and specifically this past weekend (6th January 2017)  has shown me exactly how much I genuinely love my friends old and new !
The wanderers returned from Uni, we explored, ate food, played monopoly, drank tea but most importantly came to together in fellowship.
Two of my bestest and greatest pals Kerry and Harry
 were baptised as a public and personal declaration of the love they have for Jesus, to symbolise that they have repented of their sin, accepted Jesus as their saviour and is willing to commit their life to Him. Two days later I got to stand alongside 13 other legends to come forward officially for the first time for communion.
Nothing fills me with love and Joy more than coming together with your church family, the people who invest in you and genuinely want to see you grow personally and spiritually.

I am continually reminded that I am thankful for West Church and everyone within it who surround me with love not just on a day of communion but every single day.

I dreaded 2017 for reason I didn't understand but now I'm excited... excited to see friendships flourish but even more excited to see more of the opportunities that God has aside for me and if there's one thing that I want to bring with me and remember this year is that my 'good' is nothing compared to Gods 'amazing'. I need to remember to give Him the authority to do more with me than I can imagine, which will require being broken but I now know that God never leaves those who love Him broken for long. And WHEN He puts the pieces back together that's when amazing things are allowed to happen!!

God can use us just the way we are! He wants to help us discover our true identity in Him and he longs to guide us into developing a positive self-image. He wants our identity to come from the fact that we have incredible value to Him!!
I'm so stoked that I get to learn, grow and ride this crazy rollercoaster of life with the most incredible people- my friends,

If you've read this far congrats as I pretty much just rambled haha :)
Courtney xo

Exploring Castlewellan with old and new friends!!